Uconn

Daigneault: Ollie a hot name, but unlikely to leave With video report By Ed Daigneault Republican-American

Connecticut head coach Kevin Ollie yells at players during the first half of their NCAA Final Four championship game against the Kentucky Wildcats Monday, April 7, 2014 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, Tom Fox)

Kevin Ollie might leave UConn someday for the NBA. He might stay at UConn for the remainder of his coaching career.

And he might decide this weekend that he wants to kick back on a beach somewhere, home-school his children from a tropical island and spend the nights debating with his wife which leisure activity will best fill the following day.

The only person who knows what Ollie will do with his life is Ollie. But there is no shortage of people who speculate what the next move might be for Ollie, and most of them have to do with heading to L.A. to coach the Lakers. A few are speculating that Ollie will be in the running to be coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder, who, at this moment, have a coach.

ESPN's Skip Bayless pushed Ollie for the Lakers job just hours after Mike D'Antoni resigned (how I love that euphemism) as coach. In the midst of the Final Four, a Los Angeles Times reporter pushed Ollie for the not-even-yet-vacant Lakers job.

How things change. Less than two years ago, those now pushing for Ollie to be an NBA coach were likely among those who wondered how on Earth he was going to successfully replace Jim Calhoun at UConn.

And then he went and won a national title in year two of his tenure, thus making him the hottest coaching commodity out there. This, my friends, is what's known as a good problem for UConn.

I don't see Ollie leaving now for the NBA. Surely he'd have to listen — he'd be foolish not to — but that's as far as I think it will go. Ollie is big on loyalty, big on finishing jobs and he's enamored with UConn. When coaches speak of their love for a particular place, it can often be shrugged off. Maybe I'm naive, but when Ollie speaks of his love for UConn, it comes off as perfectly genuine.

I'm not sure it's in his nature to say such things and then stomp on those words.

Ollie may have grown up in L.A., but he's spent the bulk of his adult life around UConn and Connecticut. His wife, Stephanie, is from Connecticut. Right now, with children in high school and middle school, Connecticut is Ollie's life.

Oh, and Ollie is due for a hefty raise in a promised contract restructuring from athletic director Warde Manuel. Through a spokesman, Manuel said Thursday there is no update on a new contract, but that is hardly surprising. Ollie has had a number of public appearances since the national title and he's been busy recruiting the last couple of weeks. Surely he and Manuel have spoken, but neither has had the time to sit down with the other and hash things out.

It will get done. Ollie will be at UConn. That's my prediction. Still, the rumors are worth exploring.

Being head coach of the Lakers is one of the true big-time gigs in sports. All those titles. The purple and gold. Kobe. But the organization is a mess (albeit only the second-biggest NBA mess in L.A.) and the roster is aging. There doesn't appear to be much to work with there.

Oklahoma City is a different story. Great roster, reportedly great management. And Kevin Durant, who trumpets Ollie at every available opportunity. Should it happen, it might be far more difficult for Ollie to turn down the Thunder than to turn down the Lakers.

Should Ollie depart for the NBA now, he would owe UConn $2 million, per terms of his contract. That's nearly two years of his current salary, not a big deal, but something to consider. It's the perception part that might play a huge role.

Ollie, 41, is sensitive to how he's perceived, much more so than Calhoun is. Winning a title so quickly gives Ollie a pass with many fans, but there would certainly be many who would be quick to call him a hypocrite. With all the sayings he unleashes and with how hard he works to make sure his players are doing all the right things, the perception is the thing that might ultimately be the biggest factor.

These rumors were bound to come, and they'll persist. I could be wrong, but right now Ollie isn't going anywhere.

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